Client Goals and Dreams: Replacing the Norm of Functioning

This article examines how knowledge gathering is organized when interviewing a client and designing a treatment plan. When the focus of social work practice is upon adaptation (e.g., achieving a goodness-of-fit), knowledge gathering is organized by the presenting problem or need and the social worker’s expertise on human functioning. When the focus of social work practice is upon identity formation (as advocated by postmodern approaches), knowledge gathering is organized by the client’s dreams/goals and the client’s preferred identity (of who she or he would like to be). Within these postmodern approaches, practice falls into three much different broad phases, encapsulated by the terms “confront, generate, solidify.”